1999 V70 T5 cyl. 1 misfire, oily spark plug in cyl. 2

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:16 am

A few days ago after a burst of "spirited acceleration" (from 10 to 40mph maybe?) the check engine light started flashing and then came on steady, and the engine began running roughly. I was almost to work so I found a parking spot and went in; on the way home the CEL stayed on but flashed on one or two occasions, and I haven't driven the car since then (did start it while pulling codes, etc.)

Using an OBDLink SX reader with my computer, I pulled a whole mess of confusing codes which I think may have been the result of some miscommunication between the car and computer:
B3E1F
B2810

B0107
C2500

P0301

P0007
C2565

Line breaks indicate the code came from a separate scan. I just kept going until it came up with something that made sense for what was happening (P0301, misfire cyl. 1).

Last night I took a look under the hood; I removed the top cover and unbolted the coil packs on cylinders 1 and 2 so I could compare the condition of the coil boots and spark plugs. I removed the coil pack on cyl. 1 and then removed the spark plug. It seemed to be in okay shape, obviously used (I installed it in Sept. 2011) but fairly normal. It did have a little bit of black carbon deposit on the end - not the electrodes, just the face end of the threaded part. It also smelled a little like unburned gasoline, which makes sense if there was a misfire condition in the cylinder. I reinstalled the plug and put the coil pack down over the plug as well.

When I removed the coil pack from cyl. 2 there was a significant amount of oil down in the cavity where the spark plug goes, pooled up probably halfway up the exposed portion of the spark plug. The boot also had a thin layer of oil on it. I removed the spark plug and except for the oil that ran down onto the threads during removal it seemed fine - no excess oil on the electrodes, no gas smell. I replaced the plug and coil pack for cyl. 2 and decided to take a look at cyl. 3 as well. No oil there, spark plug looked good.

I have had an oil leak that has gotten worse over the past 6-8 months or so, but I've made sure to always keep the oil level in the zone recommended by the dipstick. I figured it was a problem with the oil pan seal because there's always a bit of oil on the back/bottom of the pan when I go to change the oil. Is it possible the oil is also leaking into the engine and getting burned away? (Head gasket maybe?)

Any feedback/advice is welcome, I would love to get everything taken care of and am happy to do the work if I know where to start.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:29 pm

Is it possible a clogged PCV system could have cause the oil issue in cylinder two? It seems like if it were blowing out it would go into two and three, but in this case it was only two.

Post by **E Showell** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 2:19 pm

The oil on #2 is a symptom of a clogged PCV system. When was it serviced (replaced) last? Have you done the glove-over-the-oil-filler-cap test? If so, what result? Oil leak could be rear cam seals weeping due to excess crankcase pressure. If so, service the PCV system before you blow out the rear main seal -- $10 part, $1,000 labor to replace.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 2:37 pm

E Showell wrote:The oil on #2 is a symptom of a clogged PCV system. When was it serviced (replaced) last? (. . .)

Thanks! As far as I know the system has never been serviced or replaced - has about 148K miles on it now, bought it at 99K a few years ago. I figured the PCV system would need replaced sooner or later but it hasn't shown other signs of trouble before this (or I didn't notice them). Looks like I'll be picking up one of these to replace the system.

Regarding the misfire, is there a good way to test coil packs other than swapping locations and looking for the misfire to switch cylinders? I'm also planning to replace all the spark plugs because it's been probably 40,000 miles since they were changed and they're a pretty cheap maintenance item.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 7:22 pm

Okay, just did the glove-over-the-oil-filler-cap test. When I first put the glove on it tore a little so I rolled up the bottom a bit and put the glove back on. Then, when I started the car - and I promise I'm not kidding here - the middle finger of the glove inflated and waved around for a second before the glove came off of its perch on the filler hole.

I guess that's what I get for not servicing the PCV system earlier

and here I thought the car and I got along pretty well